Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness for contrast enhanced intraoperative ultrasound (CE-IOUS) using perflubutane (SonazoidTM). Methods: We investigated 28 nodules in 18 patients who underwent liver resection or radiofrequency ablation (RFA) between April 2011 and March 2013. In preoperative imaging, contrast enhanced ultrasound (CE-US), enhanced CT, enhanced MRI, and PET, were used and compared with the contrast enhanced intraoperative ultrasound (CE-IOUS) using perflubutane. Results: The highest rate of preoperative imaging was 88.9% on MRI. The diagnostic rate of CT was 75.0%. CE-IOUS detected all nodules. Two nodules showed high echoic nodules without perfusion defect. There were 19 nodules detected after chemotherapy, of which 9 nodules were 5–10 mm in size, and all nodules were detected using CE-IOUS. Conclusion: Despite the fact that some detected nodules were 5–10 mm in size after chemotherapy, CE-IOUS was effective in intraoperatively diagnosing liver metastases of colorectal cancer. We believe that CE-IOUS could be an effective tool in colon cancer liver metastasis of colorectal cancer.
